When NOT To Feel GUILTY?

 

Out of the over one million English words [including those 170,000 to 470,000 words compiled in both Oxford and Merriam Webster's dictionaries], I'm quite sure that one of the words least used OR referenced [except during legal proceedings] is the word 'GUILT' or 'GUILTY'.  So, finding this intriguing, I thought let's reserve today's thread space WHEN NOT to feel GUILTY?  NOT because we are suffering OR enduring any GUILT BUT we'd like to reference numerous situations WHEN in truth and in fact, you are NOT really GUILTY and yet, there you are, feeling various levels of GUILT.  For alignment, let's paste the standard definition of GUILT which refers to that emotion that involves feelings of remorse and self-judgment.  This way, we WON'T be led astray in dissecting it's multiple dimensions💚💛💜

WHAT's quite a cause of alarm here is that WHILE it can be a helpful emotion for personal growth, letting it linger way too long can take its toll on one's emotional health.  I myself [and surely everyone else] would admit that over the course through our lifetime, we have caused OR done something that we regret.  And even if that's the offshoot of our our own mistake[s], we would be hesitant to even make an excuse that that's the natural part of our natural growth.  After all, a mistake is a mistake and there's no way around it💥💥💥

YET, I myself, I have to admit it that in the past WHEN I was manifesting those GUILT feelings, I felt that GUILT creeping in and stakes out space in my own consciousness and admittedly, those moments did cause a hell lot of emotional and physical turmoil.  OH YES, I recall I know GUILT best as the nauseating twist in my stomach.  Perhaps, at times, we're also dealing with that recurring self-judgment and criticism related to our own memories of WHAT happened.  True, as an emotion, GUILT has that immense power.  And verily true, GUILT can help us acknowledge our actions and fuel our own motivation.  True, it might also lead us to fixate on WHAT we could have done differently.  And that's WHEN remorse and the accompanying GUILT feelings will creep in.  To quote experts, if we've never felt able to come clean about a mess-up, our GUILT might feel magnified to an almost unbearable degree😕😕😕

There is one countermeasure many have succumbed to, towards managing their GUILT and that's by ignoring it OR trying to push it away on the assumption that it will eventually dissipate in thin air.  Psychologists opine that that is NOT actually the case.  Like many of our multifarious emotions, unaddressed GUILT can indeed stick around, like an albatross around your neck, and as studies proved, eventually, things simply turned from bad to worse.  Worst of worst, for us to be refusing to acknowledge our GUILT might temporarily keep it from spilling into our everyday life BUT masking our emotions generally DOESN'T work as a surefire solution as truly addressing our GUILT requires us to first accept that GUILT, however unpleasant it may be😡😡😡

Our takeaway:  Much as we are harping now that we got to acknowledge and accept that GUILT feeling, let us be mindful that NOT all of our GUILT feelings are valid enough.  NOT WHEN say NO in good faith.  NOT WHEN you are incapable to help someone.  NOT WHEN you stand up for yourself.  NOT WHEN you manifest some of your imperfections [WHO's perfect in the first place?].  In a nutshell, there are multiple reasons for us NOT TO FEEL GUILTY dude!!!